I have been so flattered by the number of requests I’ve received for a write up on this year’s Minnesota State Fair! The fact you are all reading my blog enough to remember I did a State Fair post last year is amazing, and now you want more. Wow! Thank you!

So here’s some of my new favorites at the State Fair, and a few tips on how to discover favorites of your own!

Sweety Balls – Potato Man and Sweetie

The guy who served these to me thanked me for not making a joke about their name. While it is a funny name, these deep-fried mashed sweet potatoes are no laughing matter. Drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with a side of whipped cream, these sweet potatoes are like nothing you’ve tasted before.

Even if you hate sweet potatoes, I’d encourage you to give these a try, they taste more like cinnamon than sweet potato and have a buttery texture that works beautifully with the crispy outside. A word of warning: These things come out HOT, so let them cool a bit before biting into one.

March and April are tricky times of the year. The spring produce isn’t really in season yet, but neither are the root vegetables of Winter. So if you’ve got a few less than fresh sweet potatoes lying around, like I did, here’s a way to use them up that’s both tasty and healthy!

This is a recipe adapted from Cooking Light, they called it sweet potato mac n’ cheese, but based on the sweet-potato-to-cheese ratio, and maybe the fact that I’m Minnesotan, I really thought this qualified as more of a hot dish*.